Critical Choices That Change Lives: How Heroes Turn Tragedy Into Triumph

154 Pages·2005·1.42 MB·English

by  Daniel R. Castro

CRITICAL
CHOICES
THAT
CHANGE
LIVES

How Heroes Turn
Tragedy Into Triumph

DANIEL R. CASTRO

BEARTOOTH PRESS
AUSTIN, TEXAS

In cooperation with
SEATTLE BOOK COMPANY
www.seattlebook.com
Produced by
RosettaMachine
www.rosettamachine.com
CRITICAL CHOICES THAT CHANGE LIVES

Critical Choices That Change Lives © 2005 by Daniel R. Castro
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or
reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.
BEARTOOTH PRESS
10509 Pointeview Drive
Austin, Texas 78738
Excerpt from It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong, ©2000 by
Lance Armstrong. Used by permission of G. P. Putnam's Sons, a division
of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Excerpts from Every Second Counts by Lance Armstrong and Sally
Jenkins, © 2003 by Lance Armstrong. Used by permission of Broadway
Books, a division of Random House, Inc.
Book design and cover by Janice Booker Benight
Manufactured in the United States of America
Publisher's Cataloging-in-Publication
(Provided by Quality Books, Inc.)
Ebook editions produced by
SEATTLE BOOK COMPANY
www.SeattleBook.com
Ebook conversion and distribution powered by
www.RosettaMachine.com
Castro, Daniel, R., 1960-
Critical choices that change lives: how heroes
turn tragedy into triumph / by Daniel R. Castro.
p. cm.
LCCN 2003097051
Print edition ISBN: 0-9740543-1-3
Microsoft LIT edition ISBN: 0-7420-9344-1
Adobe PDF edition ISBN: 0-7420-9346-8
ii
CRITICAL CHOICES THAT CHANGE LIVES

Palm PDB edition ISBN: 0-7420-9347-6
MobiPocket edition ISBN: 0-7420-9345-X
1. Choice (Psychology) — Case studies. 2. Change (Psychology) —
Case studies. I. Title.
BF611.C37 2005 153.8'3
QBI33-2027

iii
CRITICAL CHOICES THAT CHANGE LIVES

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference."
— ROBERT FROST
"THE ROAD NOT TAKEN"
iv
CRITICAL CHOICES THAT CHANGE LIVES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following people for taking the time to read those
painful first drafts and for being gracious enough to be brutally honest
with their comments so that I could separate the wheat from the chaff.
Without their comments and encouragement, this book would never have
seen the light of day.
JAMES BAKER, ROSE BERRA CASTRO, CANDI BURROWS,
RACHEL MARIE CASTRO, KAREN BLOCK, CINDY BOURLAND,
LYNNE DRESSI, EVONNE JONES, KAREN LONG, DENISE
NOWOTNY, MARILEE PARSONS, WOODY "JACK"ROSEBERRY,
DAVID SIGMOND, LYNNE STODDARD, TAMARA THOMPSON,
MARK & SUSAN WALKER
I would also like to thank the following authors who graciously and
enthusiastically allowed me quote from their great writings:
LANCE ARMSTRONG, LAURIE BETH JONES, JAMES BALOG,
JOEL ACHENBACH & DR. GERALD MANN
Finally, I would like to thank Celia Rocks, who helped me encapsulate
the central message of this book into bullet points and develop a keynote
speech for a corporate/executive audience.
Many thanks!
v
CRITICAL CHOICES THAT CHANGE LIVES

To all those brave souls who,
when faced with great obstacles,
made difficult decisions
that changed the course of history...
and those who are yet to be born.
vi
CRITICAL CHOICES THAT CHANGE LIVES

CONTENTS

1. Whispers From Heroes
2. The Decision Behind the Decision
3. It's How You See, Not What You See
4. When Heroes are Between a Rock and a Hard Place
5. Why We Look Without Seeing
6. Heroes See from an Elevated Position
7. Heroes Focus on the Purpose on the Other Side of Pain
8. Heroes Do More Than Just Face Their Fears
9. Heroes Can See Into the Future
10. Heroes Harvest Their Hidden Gifts
11. Heroes Focus on Intangible Values
12. Heroes Can See What's Truly Sacred and What's Not
13. Heroes Can See the "Right Path"
14. Heroes See the Past Differently Than Most
15. Heroes Can See Through the "Smoke"
16. Heroes Know They Can't See The Whole Parade
17. Heroes See Stars Beyond Coconuts
vii
CRITICAL CHOICES THAT CHANGE LIVES

CHAPTER 1

WHISPERS
FROM HEROES

W
hat if you could go back in history and talk to anyone you wanted to
about a struggle you were facing? Who would you talk to and why? Jesus?
Martin Luther King, Jr? Abraham Lincoln? George Washington? General
Patton? Dwight D. Eisenhower? Alexander the Great? Moses? Confucius?
Muhammad? Buddha? Mother Theresa? Your deceased grandmother or
older brother?
What if those people could speak to you about your current situation?
What would they say? Would you listen if they spoke? What if they only
whispered softly? The voices of our heroes are like whispers in the night.
You have to sit still and quietly in order to hear them. They do not preach.
They do not lecture. They do not pontificate. They merely tell their stories.
I was once traveling in Belgium on business. I had never been there
before. I was wearing a backpack and hauling around a huge black
briefcase full of legal files and a five- foot-long suitcase on wheels that
felt like it weighed a ton. After I had met with clients over a period of
days, I was lucky enough to be in Liege, Belgium, for the first day of the
2004 Tour de France. I had stood or sat in the same place for almost eight
hours — right next to the guard rail as the cyclists whizzed by, including
one of my heroes, Lance Armstrong.
But now it was almost midnight and I was getting off the train in
Brussels after a very long day. I was weak with exhaustion and from not
eating much that day. I had no idea where I was going, but I knew the way
out of the train station was straight up a long, narrow flight of stairs. I
looked around. There was not an elevator or escalator anwhere in sight. I
sighed and started my trek up to what felt like the top of Mount Everest.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The wheels on my luggage pounded each concrete
step one at a time and the sound echoed throughout the train station.
1
CRITICAL CHOICES THAT CHANGE LIVES

Then I heard a voice with a strong accent. "Here, let me help you."
Before I could reply, a hand reached down and grabbed the handle of my
briefcase.
"Merci!" was all I could think of to say to the young man who had
come to my aid.
"No problem."
"Oh thank God, you speak English! Thank you very much," I said. We
were slowly making our way up the stairs, the luggage banging loudly,
when suddenly the weight of my one-ton bag disappeared. I quickly turned
around to see that another guy had grabbed the rear handle of my five-foot
bag and was now helping me carry it up the stairs. Am I surrounded by
angels? It felt like a thousand pounds had been lifted off my back. "Merci!
Merci!" I said.
"Glad to help. You looked like you were having a hard time." This guy
spoke English too! "By the way, nice jersey," he said.
I looked down and realized I was still wearing the red, white, and blue
racing jersey I had bought at the Tour de France in Liege. It had a huge
U.S. flag sewn on the front and the letters USA on the back. I felt proud to
be part of the team.
When we got to the top of the stairs, the guy behind me said, "Have a
safe trip," and disappeared into the crowd. The guy carrying my briefcase
said, "Where are you going?"
"I have no idea. But I'm staying at the Novotel," I said.
"Well, then let me help you. I'm going that way and I've been there
before."
"No, no. That's okay. Just tell me how to get there." In the U.S., this
would have been enough to let the guy off the hook.
"But, I'm really going that way and I know how you feel with all these
bags. I'm used to traveling alone with two small children." What a saint.
"Well, okay. I'll follow you then," I said, trying to place the accent.
"Are you from England?"
"No, Ireland," he said. He had traveled to Liege to see the first day of
the Tour de France just like the thousands of people from all over Europe
and the U.S.
2